Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY — Motorists who leave their vehicles idling for more than two minutes in Utah's capital city run the risk of being fined. The Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an ordinance making idling of vehicle engines a crime punishable by a fine of between $50 and $210, depending on the number of offenses and how quickly fines are paid. The goal, city leaders said, is to improve air quality in the Salt Lake Valley, where more than 50 percent of air pollution comes from vehicle exhaust. "Anything we can do to reduce pollution on...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - It's your money and even in these hard times City leaders are finding unusual ways to spend it, like a $250,000 loan to keep a radio station on the air. KCPW would default on a loan without the help. Listeners promised $230,000 in pledges, but they were never paid. KCPW is the only public radio station to focus on only on Salt Lake County. It has 11 reporters and reaches a potential 1,000,000 listeners. Its coverage would have ended without a loan from Salt Lake City, one of the very groups it...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A protest of Utah's uptight laws that featured people running through the streets of Salt Lake City in their underwear has set a new world record. Guinness World Records says the Utah Undie Run broke the previous record for largest gathering of people wearing only underpants or knickers by 1,720 people. .. 2,270 people stripped to their underwear during the Utah Undie Run on Sept. 24. .. previous record of 550 people .. set last year in Great Britain.

So many of our New Year’s resolutions may have something to do with food: eating less, eating better; eating differently or even eating something we’ve grown. With that in mind, we asked some of Utah’s culinary all-stars to share their food resolutions for 2011.

SALT LAKE CITY -- American Airlines flight 1476, from Portland to Dallas, was diverted to the Salt Lake International Airport because of an "unruly" passenger. The flight landed at Salt Lake International around 1:15 Thursday afternoon. John Heller, a passenger on the flight, tells KSL the "unruly" passenger wanted to use the restroom before the flight left Portland, but a flight attendant told him he had to wait until after take-off. Once the flight was in the air, the passenger apparently used the restroom three to four times and that raised suspicions. Passengers nearest to him alerted the flight attendant...

Walter Edmund Bond was taken into custody Thursday in Denver after allegedly telling an informant that he started the Glendale fire and two fires in Utah because they were businesses that "profited from animals." At the time of his arrest by FBI and ATF agents, Bond was carrying a backpack, according to an affidavit by Rennie Mora, a special agent for the ATF. Agents searched the backpack and found literature titled, "The Declaration of War - Killing People to Save the Animals and the Environment - Strike a Match Light a Fuse We've Only Have the Earth to Lose." Bond...

If there were a dream team of Utah’s most well-known television news anchors, it would be the group of personalities behind Salt TV Network. Together, a group of former competitors, anchors and news reporters from KUTV Channel 2, KTVX Channel 4 and KSL Channel 5, are the faces of Salt TV. The new independent local news web cooperative, launched in a beta version last week, is expected to be fully functional next month. It’s currently being funded by startup investors, but the founders plan to seek advertising and paid subscribers. The list of talent who will be both reading and...

BELLEVUE – The FBI is investigating after envelopes containing white powder showed up in government offices from Seattle to Boise. In Bellevue, a building with offices of the Internal Revenue Service was evacuated around 12:30 p.m. A female worker said she opened an envelope in the mailroom and white powder "poofed" out. "One worker was directly exposed and another worker was close enough nearby to be concerned. We've taken both of them to the hospital," said Lt. Eric Keenan of the Bellevue Fire Dept. Federal and local investigators converged on the four-story building. While Port of Seattle bomb dogs searched...

Now that Salt Lake City has been snubbed for the GOP’s 2012 convention, it’s worth asking what this decision means about the Republican Party’s 2012 game plan. So if we look at the finalists between Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Tampa—it seems clear that the value of Florida as a swing state is a top consideration. Given the recent controversy over Arizona’s recent controversial immigration law that Phoenix just didn’t stand a chance. Which means Utah was most likely snubbed just because the state’s too reliably conservative. It’s an interesting question whether or not that impacts Romney’s OUT LOUD secret...

When it comes to foreclosures, Salt Lake City is the worst of the worst. The metro area had the largest percentage increase in foreclosure filings the past year among more than 50 communities hardest hit by the nation's foreclosure crisis, a new report shows. Owners of 5,155 local properties received a foreclosure-related notice in the first quarter, 101 percent higher than the same period in 2009, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures nationally. In the U.S., foreclosure filings rose only 16 percent. Many of the other metro areas with high levels of distressed properties actually saw their foreclosure...

The "Love & War" tour brings the contemporary Christian singers BarlowGirl and their musical ministry to Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake on Thursday. Growing up in a household surrounded by music and church in Illinois, sisters Rebecca, Alyssa and Lauren Barlow attended Sunday school, assisted their pastor father by playing instruments during services and began to turn their journal writings into songs reflecting personal triumphs and struggles. BarlowGirl burst on the Christian music scene with their self-titled album in 2004, followed by four more albums and relentless touring. The Dove Awards of gospel music have nominated BarlowGirl 10 times for...

Washington » Former -- and potentially future -- presidential candidate Mitt Romney isn't weighing in on where the Republicans should hold their next national convention. Romney told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday that he believes all three cities vying for the 2012 gathering -- Salt Lake City, Tampa and Phoenix -- are "terrific" cities but that he's not going to give a preference. "I remember what an extraordinary host Salt Lake was for the 2002 Winter Games," Romney said, "but one thing I will stay a mile away from is any discussion of which city should be the host...

This is a thread for the live streaming of Heart of the Matter an outreach to the LDS. A link with the archive will be posted when it is up.

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Bout and American-born pal Richard Chichakli were accused of creating a new business, Samar Airlines, which they thought was clean of any connection to their own bloody dealings. Starting in the summer of 2007, Samar Airlines started making deals for airplanes and crews to ferry contraband between the United States and Tajikistan, the indictment said." SNIPPET: "The Russian-born Bout is accused of wiring $1.7 million from bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Russia through banks in New York City and Salt Lake City to finance the scheme." SNIPPET: "Bout, who is accused of supplying weapons to real...

SALT LAKE CITY — The next Republican presidential nominee could be named in Utah. After four months of study, the GOP has selected Salt Lake City as one of four finalists for the 2012 Republican National Convention, an event that could bring 30,000 people to the state for several days. The other finalists will be announced early next week, and the winner will be selected in late summer after GOP officials visit each city. If Salt Lake City gets the bid, the 2012 event would be the first GOP convention held in the Intermountain West. Denver hosted the Democratic National...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Rep. Christine Johnson will serve an additional role when the Utah Legislature convenes this month. The lesbian lawmaker announced she's a surrogate mother, carrying a baby for two gay men. Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, said she decided to become artificially impregnated with sperm from one of the men after the two close friends expressed frustration over the difficulty of adopting a child. Utah law prohibits unmarried couples from adopting and does not recognize gay marriage.....

SALT LAKE CITY -- A conservative think tank is hoping the Legislature can help protect people of faith living in Salt Lake City after two discrimination ordinances were passed. The ordinances protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment. Sutherland Institute president Paul Mero says churches and some organizations have exemptions. The exemptions are for religious freedom and expressive association. That means a church corporation doesn't have to hire someone who is gay if they don't want to. Expressive association means the company doesn't have to hire someone who does not fit into their culture - for example,...

Officials are in the early stages of deciding if Salt Lake City wants to compete for the 2012 Republican National Convention — so early, in fact, that they have not yet formed a bid committee to decide. Salt Lake City was invited by the Republican National Committee to attend an "interested parties" presentation in Washington, D.C., three weeks ago, said Scott Beck, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. Beck attended, along with a representative from the governor's office. There, they learned what requirements in terms of amenities a host city would have to...

Below is an informative piece by my friend Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan about the awful decision by the LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to support legislation granting legal protections based on homosexuality. Gary of AFA-Michigan writes: A Shocker from Salt Lake City: The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church now officially endorses so-called “gay rights” laws, specifically a Salt Lake City law prohibiting “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation” (homosexual behavior) and “gender identity” (cross-dressing). From the official LDS Church website: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-supports-nondiscrimination-ordinances ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Mormons throw support...

(RNS) With the passage Tuesday (Nov. 10) of nondiscrimination laws in Salt Lake City that expand gay rights, Mormon officials and gay activists have found a patch of common ground. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gay organizations both advocated for the laws, which prevent discrimination in housing and employment. SNIP The Sutherland Institute, a Salt Lake City-based conservative think tank, expressed disappointment in the church's action. "As a public relations opportunity, the LDS church's statement before the Salt Lake City Council may assuage the minds and soften the hearts of advocates of 'gay rights' in Utah,"...

It looked like a stunning reversal: the same church that helped defeat gay marriage in California standing with gay-rights activists on an anti-discrimination law in its own backyard. On Tuesday night, after a series of clandestine meetings between local gay-rights backers and Mormons in Salt Lake City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it would support proposed city laws that would prohibit discrimination against gays in housing and employment. The ordinances passed and history was made: It marked the first time the Salt Lake City-based church had supported gay-rights legislation.

Here are some pictures from the Salt Lake City tea party, at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building downtown. It's hard to get a scope of just how many people were there from the pictures, but I would guess there was somewhere between 1000-2000. I imagine all the snow and rain kept even more people from coming. Congressmen Jason Chaffetz, Congressmen Rob Bishop, and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff all spoke, as well as some activists and citizens. There was a huge range of people there, from the old, to the stroller bound. From white, to Asian, to African American....

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The FBI has issued an alert to 350 law enforcement agencies in the southwest and Salt Lake City for potential Valentine teddy bear bombs after a suspicious transaction at a Wal-Mart last month. Law enforcement sources said authorities also were on the alert at airports in case the suspected bear-bombs might be carried onto airplanes on Valentine's Day. The FBI said a clean-shaven male, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, purchased nine Valentine teddy bears, 20 inches tall, and 14 canisters of propane, 9 inches tall, small enough to fit inside the teddy bears. The man...

Once upon a time, people who wanted to be president were not expected to admit it in public. This mask of false indifference had to be dropped when the rise of primaries forced candidates to campaign actively for the office.

On Tuesday, attorneys representing sect members filed a request for a temporary restraining order to bar fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan from evicting hundreds of residents from homes in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. ... Until Wisan took over, property taxes were always paid promptly, Stirba said. As of June, past due taxes totalled $384,000, according to Wisan. And within the past few weeks, he has also sent notices giving residents until the end of the month to catch up. ... Wisan has spent more than $3 million in fees and expenses since becoming the trust's...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

1. McCain Should Be Feared, Writer Says Presidential hopeful John McCain is being billed as the Republican that liberals can live with, but his credentials as a “bipartisan progressive� are in fact a “lazy, hazy myth,� according to liberal pundit Johann Hari. “The truth is that McCain is the candidate we should most fear,� writes Hari, a columnist for The Independent in Britain, in an article that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Not only is he to the right of Bush on a whole range of subjects, he is also the Republican candidate most likely to dispense with Hillary Clinton...

Just because you can't fight city hall doesn't mean City Hall can't fight you. Tuesday night, Mayor Rocky Anderson got into a heated exchange with Dell Loy Hansen, one of Utah's biggest developers. Now, 24 hours after their fight, Hansen feels like he's getting a "bum" rap. Tuesday night began after a meeting at City Hall, one where the mayor and Hansen did not make nice. According to the Mayor, Hansen confronted him in a hallway. And, again according to the Mayor, Hansen then put his arm on Anderson to which the mayor said: Rocky Anderson: "I said I...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has cooled his friendship with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson now that the liberal Democrat has called for President Bush?s impeachment. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Romney sought to minimize his relationship with Anderson, once a prominent example of bipartisan camaraderie. The two worked closely together when Romney ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. ?He was a mayor that worked well with me during the Olympics, and I supported his work as a mayor,? said Romney, who spoke before an event in heavily Republican western Iowa, where he...

Sudden Jihad Syndrome http://cfoiblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/sudden-jihad-syndrome.html Monday, February 26, 2007 Sudden Jihad Syndrome Evidently this mental/emotional malady is on the rise: Sudden Jihad Syndrome It looks like the Muslim teen who opened fire on shoppers in a Salt Lake City mall is yet another case of “sudden jihad syndrome,� a condition in which normal-appearing American Muslims abruptly turn violent. Taken together, this and other cases add up to an invisible jihad inside America. But don’t tell that to the FBI. The politically correct bureau does everything it can to avoid recognizing the obvious Islamic factor in these heinous crimes. Sulejman Talovic, an...

WEST VALLEY CITY - Imam Shuaib-ud Din has been terminated from his position as religious leader of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake amid allegations of domestic violence. Police said they responded to a "domestic-related incident" at Din's home a week ago, and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office reported an attempt to serve a protective order against him on Thursday. Contacted by phone, a relative of the imam said he was in Chicago now but would not comment on the allegations. The relative acknowledged that Din and his wife were having marital problems but said the imam was...

If you only read the news as reported by the Main Stream Media, you would never know that we had just recently experienced another Jihad style attack by a Muslim on American soil. On Monday, Feb. 12th, one time Bosnian refugee Sulejmen Talovic (age 18) walked into the Trolley Valley shopping mall in Salt Lake City and in a six minute rampage killed five people and severely wounded several more. The dead were identified as Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24. My initial (blogged) reaction was: “Any guesses as to...

As a gunman unleashed his terror at Trolley Square on Monday evening, dozens of workers and customers fled for cover. Some of them ran toward the shots to get a glimpse of the gunman. Others came across shooting victims, both dead and alive. These are their stories, as told to five Salt Lake Tribune reporters at the scene: Jeremy Jensen, 26, of Salt Lake City, at Desert Edge Brew Pub, said he saw the shooter several hours earlier walking through the brewery. He remembered his long tan trenchcoat and that he had a mullet midway down his back. He said...

Video taken during attack at Salt Lake City mall picks up shouting of "Allah Akbar" 3 times.

In reading the news on the internet and local fishwrap as well as watching the reporting on Fox I've noticed a lack of identification, discussion and analysis of the recent attack at the Salt Lake city mall. The fact that this man was a muslim seems to have escaped the otherwise stellar performance of our “free press”. I seem to remember an incident in -North Carolina where a muslim tried to run over college students. - California airport where muslim shot somebody or stabbed someone at the terminal - Seattle Jewish community center shooting of staff members - Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia...

n an apparent act of Islamic Terror, an 18 year old Bosnian Muslim Refugee went on a shooting spree in Salt Lake City and the mainstream media has their head buried balls deep up their asses. The Muslim youth is described by CNN as a “A trench coat-clad teenager who opened fire on shoppers at a mall had one thing in mind: “to kill a large number of people.” making it to sound like a Columbine like shooting rather then calling it what it really is…An Islamic Terror Attack!!! f not an act of Terrorism committed by a Muslim/Islamic person,...

Shots fired at Trolley Square; several people injured, others killed Last Update: Feb 12, 2007 8:29 PM Salt Lake Police say a man opened fire inside the Trolley Square Mall on Monday evening. Police have shot and killed one suspect, and there are preliminary reports that at least five people are dead. There is no second shooter loose inside the mall. Police report that the shooter was shooting at random in mulitiple areas, but is no longer a threat and there is no further risk at Trolley Square. Police say that there have been "several" vicitms and "some" fatalities and...

(KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY Police are saying there may be as many as three people killed in gunfire at Trolley Square. Trolley Square is located at 700 east and 500 south in Salt Lake City. This all started around 7 p.m. Monday night. One witness told 2News that the shooter was about 6’1”, wearing a dark trench coat, carrying a backpack. That witness says the suspect was wielding a shotgun at his shoulder and taking aim. Cedrick heard two gunshots go off in the mall looked down off a balcony and saw the gunman. The gunman looked up and fired...

Calling it an "unsafe investment," the mayor of Salt Lake County said Monday that he won't support $30 million in taxes for a professional soccer stadium, a fatal blow to Real Salt Lake's plan to move to the suburbs...

Tuesday, January 9, 2007 Salt Lake Catholic Diocese gets new bishop By Elaine Jarvik Deseret Morning News       The new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City is described as humble and caring — the kind of man who not only visits the sick and elderly but who rolls up his sleeves to wash their dishes. Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News Salt Lake Bishop John C. Wester       The Most Rev. John C. Wester was named Salt Lake City's new Catholic bishop on Monday, filling the nearly yearlong vacancy left when former Bishop...

SALT LAKE CITY - The parents of a bride-to-be told their daughter they were taking her on a shopping trip, but then drove to Colorado and kept her there until she missed the nuptials, officials said. Lemuel and Julia Redd have been charged with second-degree felony kidnapping. Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said Tuesday he met with the couple's daughter, Julianna, and her now-husband Perry Myers before charging the parents. "I've never had a case quite like this," Bryson said. "It is strange that parents would go to that extent to keep an adult daughter from marrying the man that...

Senate Democrats were expected to meet Wednesday to discuss several issues, including whether they will try to force a vote of no confidence on Rumsfeld. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has vowed to push legislation next week calling for Rumsfeld to resign. "Nothing can change the fact that Secretary Rumsfeld insulted the patriotism of the American people, and he needs to be held accountable for it," Boxer said Friday.

Today the President addressed the 88th Annual American Legion National Convention in Salt Lake City He also met with with the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Later on he attended a fundraiser for the reelection campaign of Sen Orrin Hatch, R-Utah Today Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne celebrate their 42nd Wedding anniversary. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

The American Legion opened its national convention in Salt Lake City this week with high hopes the gathering would help "unite America" behind the war in Iraq. Instead, the veterans have found themselves in a fight with the city's anti-war mayor. Mayor Rocky Anderson, a Democrat in a city that is considered liberal by heavily Republican Utah's standards, has accused the Bush administration of lying about the rationale for war. He has called President Bush a "complete disaster." And he organized a protest rally Wednesday a few blocks from the Salt Palace Convention Center, just hours before Bush's arrival here...

A federal grand jury has indicted former "American Idol" contestant Daniel James "DJ" Boyd on child pornography charges, accusing him of videotaping sexual encounters with teenage girls. The federal indictment was unsealed Tuesday against Boyd, 27, who was a semi-finalist on the popular TV show in 2004. He is charged with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The federal case stems from Boyd's arrest in West Valley City last month. He is accused of having sex with two girls, ages 14 and 15. Some of those sexual encounters, prosecutors claim, were videotaped. West Valley City police said...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Travel brochures can boast about breathtaking Zion, Bryce and Arches national parks. Tourism promoters can roar about Dinosaur National Monument and hawk the state's high peaks. But Utah's hottest tourism destination is Temple Square and the campus around it, which, as the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the heart of the Mormon church. Covering three city blocks, the church's grounds in downtown Salt Lake City draw 3 million to 5 million visitors a year, the church and the state Office of Tourism said. By comparison, Utah's five national...

COUPLE INDICTED FOR BRINGING IN AND HARBORING SMUGGLED TEENAGE GIRLS FROM MEXICO Victims allegedly threatened; 14-year-old forced to work 12-hour shifts to repay debts SALT LAKE CITY – A federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment this morning charging a Salt Lake City couple for their role in a scheme to smuggle a 14-year-old girl and two other young women from Mexico to Utah and hold them at a local residence until each repaid $2,800 in smuggling fees. According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, the defendants told the women their relatives in Mexico would be killed if...

Salt Lake City -- A federal appellate court has upheld a deal between city and church leaders that gave the Mormon church control over a downtown plaza. Judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said traditional public forums can be sold to private groups. The deal does "nothing to advance religion, but merely enables the LDS church to advance itself," according to the decision, which was issued Monday. The American Civil Liberties Union wanted the agreement overturned, arguing it was illegal to give the church police power in a public area. Church officials applauded the decision. "The church has...

President George W Bush accompanied by his wife Laura addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their annual convention held today at the Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City's Mayor Rocky Anderson used e-mail this week to call upon activists, Democrats and some of his top administrative staff to organise "the biggest demonstration this state has ever seen," when the President's addresses the National veterans convention today. The mayor, a Democrat who serves in an officially nonpartisan office plans to join the protest. The mayor also said he is not protesting the veterans organization. "I'm...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah television station is refusing to air an anti-war ad featuring Cindy Sheehan, whose son's death in Iraq prompted a vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch. The ad began airing on other area stations Saturday, two days before Bush was scheduled to speak in Salt Lake City to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. However, a national sales representative for KTVX, a local ABC affiliate, rejected the ad in an e-mail to media buyers, writing that it was an "inappropriate commercial advertisement for Salt Lake City." In the ad, Sheehan pleads with...